Free Star Force: Newbslayer (SF64) by Aer-ki Jyr

planets, as far as the publicity/propaganda was concerned,
and had contracted the Varshoo on four different occasions for their mercenary
talents. What was odd was in the payment, for it occurred in the form of tribute
from the conquered worlds. Foodstuffs, raw materials, and a limited amount of
industrial produce would be percentaged into an
annual shipment back to the Varshoo in lieu of a monetary payment.
    It was then that Jenna realized the Varshoo were a
collection of needy factions that used their combined military power to supply
a good portion of what their planets lacked. That was the hint of fear the
other one had, for if they failed in a mission there would be no reward and
their people would suffer for it. Also, if they failed their reputation would
diminish, with future contracts of necessary size drying up.
    That made this invasion a mess of a situation. Jenna
released the Varshoo leader’s head and stood up, putting her glove back on and
reaching out her mind to Levi to find where he was. Her battlemap had lost
track of him, given so many floors of material in between them, but her Ikrid
didn’t have that limitation and she saw he was near the ground floor.
    “We’re leaving,” she said, using her comm and seeing his signal ping on the battlemap when he
responded with the stronger signal.
    “With or without answers?”
    “They scavenged the walkers. There’s no link to the
Skarrons.”
    “Scavenged how?”
    “I’ll fill you in on the way back. How’s it look
below?”
    “Quiet for now, but I had to grab four more people
coming in.”
    “Meet me at the window,” she said, starting to walk
away from her sleeping prisoner and head that way herself.
    “Are we helping the locals?”
    “Both sides need helping…which we can’t do this far
out.”
    “One of those, huh?”
    “Yeah. That said, you don’t make someone else’s
problems your own, so we’ll throw the locals a bone or two on the way out.”
    “The other walker?”
    “You read my mind,” Jenna joked, coming to a ladder
and beginning to climb up to the waypoint on her battlemap that marked where
the cut window was. By the time she reached that level Levi’s mind was catching
up quickly from below so she didn’t rush, getting to the room they’d entered
from a few seconds ahead of him. She reached out with her Ikrid and made one
last check on the minds nearby, finding them still
unconscious.
    “Slingshot?” Levi guessed.
    “Yep,” Jenna said, getting a telekinetic hold on the
window slice and yanking it free of the melt points. She managed to do it in a
way that didn’t result in any pieces breaking off and keeping the circle’s
shape intact, then she gently set it aside and began to move the various pieces
of furniture away from the opening by hand along with her padawan. When they
finished she knelt down beside the opening as a gentle
breeze blew in, making the potted plants rustle, though neither Archon could
feel the effect inside their hard armor.
    Jenna offered a battlemeld prompt, with Levi taking it
immediately and beginning to run across the room for the few steps of
acceleration that he could manage. As he did so a repulsor conduit between the two of them yanked him forward, helping him get up to
greater speed until he flashed past Jenna, jumping off the edge of the floor
where the glass had been cut away and out into the nighttime air towards the
far roof.
    When he passed her they reversed the conduit, with
Levi forming it off his back and Jenna using it to push him forward across the
gap. She added a telekinetic lift to it, gaining him a little more height,
which translated to meters of additional distance that eventually dropped him
right at the rooftop edge. His legs hit short, but he grabbed on with his arms
and thumped over the edge, hitting on his abdomen and crawling the rest of the
way up.
    Jenna backed up to the wall and activated the powered
function of her armor, then took off sprinting and jumped out the